ARTICLE
TITLE

Turkish middle school students’ perceptions of engineering and technology: the effect of gender and grade levelTürk ortaokul ögrencilerinin mühendislik ve teknoloji algilari: sinif düzeyi ve cinsiyetin etkisi

SUMMARY

The aim of this research was to determine the engineering and technology perceptions of middle school students. Descriptive survey model was used during the research. The study group consisted of 100 middle school students (52 male, 48 female) receiving education in a district state middle school in Aegean Region of Turkey.  Two questionnaires titled “What is engineering” and “What is technology” were used as data collection tools. Descriptive statistical methods and content analysis were used during data analysis. Research results showed that, the majority of middle school students perceived engineers as construction workers that perform heavy works at outdoor environments or as mechanics that repair vehicles. While defining engineers, students mostly referred that engineers use of materials such as electrical devices, heavy equipment, cables and plans. As a result, it was found out that students are lack of the concept of engineering and they have a misunderstanding in engineering.In the research students were found to have an inadequate perception of technology as well. Most of the students perceived technology as electrically driven devices, and few related hand-made products to the concept of technology. It has been determined that the students' perception of engineering and technology in terms of grade level and gender did not display any differences. The obtained results are expected to contribute to the related literature, educators and researchers particularly for Turkish educational system in which STEM education has gained importance.Extended English summary is in the end of Full Text PDF (TURKISH) file.ÖzetBu arastirmanin amaci ortaokul ögrencilerinin mühendislik ve teknoloji algilarinin belirlenmesidir. Arastirmada betimsel tarama modeli kullanilmistir. Arastirmanin çalisma grubunu, Türkiye’nin Ege bölgesinde yer alan bir ilçedeki devlet okulunda ögrenim görmekte olan 100 ortaokul ögrencisi (52 erkek, 48 kiz) olusturmustur. Arastirmada veri toplama araci olarak “Mühendislik Nedir?” ve “Teknoloji Nedir?” isimli iki anket kullanilmistir. Verilerin analizinde betimsel istatistik yöntemleri ve içerik analizinden yararlanilmistir. Arastirma sonucunda ortaokul ögrencilerinin çogunlugunun mühendisleri açik alanlarda çalisan ve agir isler yapan insaat isçileri ya da araçlari tamir eden tamirci olarak algiladiklari sonucu elde edilmistir. Ögrenciler mühendisleri tanimlarken elektrik malzemeleri, is makineleri, kablo ve plan kullandiklarini ifade etmistir. Sonuç olarak ögrencilerin mühendislik algilarinin yetersiz oldugu ve mühendislikle ilgili yanlis kavramalarinin olduguna ulasilmistir. Arastirmada ögrencilerin teknoloji algilari da oldukça yetersiz bulunmustur. Ögrencilerin büyük bir kismi, elektrikle çalisan aletleri teknoloji olarak algilamakta, çok azi insan eliyle yapilan aletlerin teknoloji oldugunu düsünmektedir. Ögrencilerin mühendislik ve teknoloji algilarinin sinif düzeyi ve cinsiyete göre anlamli bir farklilik göstermedigi belirlenmistir. FeTeMM egitiminin önem kazandigi Türkiye’de arastirmadan elde edilen sonuçlarin ilgili alan yazina, egitimcilere ve arastirmacilara katki saglayacagi düsünülmektedir. 

 Articles related

Mehmet Gürbüz, Mehmet Sahin    

Turkish folk music, as the name implies, is music that comes from the people and it is a kind of music that defines and tells the people.  It is significantly affected by the physical and human features of the region where it is said. Turkey which i... see more


Nülüfer Erbil, Asuman Senkul, Yesim Saglam, Nesrin Ergül    

Objective: This study was planned with the purpose determination of attitudes with gynecologic examination and anxiety of Turkish women before gynecologic examination.Material & Methods: The sample of this descriptive and cross-sectional constituted by 2... see more


Ali Arslan    

Turkey has a strategic place in world politics. As Ahmad (1991: 226 and 1993) said, Turkey's strategic location on the Straits and on the cross-roads between Europe and Asia will remain unchanged. Turkey is a meeting point between Europe and Asia not onl... see more


Ali Arslan    

This study was designed to find general characteristics of Turkish Parliamentary Elites. Social background characteristics were employed to realize the purposes. Documentary and historical research techniques (Bulmer, 1994) were used during the study. Tw... see more


Ali Arslan    

This study was designed to find general characteristics of Contemporary Turkish political Elites since 1995 up to date. Social background characteristics were employed to realise the purposes. Documentary and historical research techniques were used duri... see more